Boots – shoes – and leggings
Patent
1986-04-29
1989-01-10
Smith, Jerry
Boots, shoes, and leggings
73290V, 235385, 377 3, 377 6, G06F 1524, G06M 900, G01D 528, G01S 1508
Patent
active
047978198
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to a procedure and a system for the automatic, computerized replenishment of products which are packaged in bags, or on cards, or in boxes, and which are hung, by means of perforated tabs, on pegs which form part of sales display facilities, as are installed in self-service stores, this procedure and system permitting the replenishment quantity to be determined for each article, from the length which is left vacant on the peg, thru the utilization of a suitable sensor and a microcomputer.
The method which is most commonly utilized at present, both for inventory evaluation and for determining what reordering action should be taken, involves reading the bar code or other alphanumeric identification codes appearing on one of the packages of each product--for example with the aid of a pencil-type reader--counting, in the traditional way, the number of packages remaining on each peg, and recording these data, which are then transmitted to the central unit, generally via an acoustic coupler.
This solution presents the disadvantage of being lengthy and tedious, and of permitting counting errors which are liable to manifest themselves as inventory exhaustion situations or as excessive inventories, which are very detrimental.
However, a replenishment procedure and replenishment system corresponding to the preamble of claim 1 (Patent document FR-A-No. 2.139.208) are already known. The pegs are U-shaped and include, on their lower limbs, a plurality of color-coded sections which are arranged side by side, each corresponding to a defined number of bags, so that the inventory can be taken by looking at the sections which have been rendered visible by the removal of bags. The corresponding data are input to a calculator which automatically determines the quantities of goods to be ordered. In reality, this procedure and system only facilitate the counting, by eye, of the number of packages to be replenished, while allowing the risk of human error to remain.
Another replishment procedure and system, corresponding to the preamble of claim 1 (U.S. Pat. No. 3,651,478) is also known, utilizing an optical device which supplies an image of every package which is situated at the end of a row, the image size varying according to how far the package is away, this distance being a function of the quantity of that particular article remaining on the sales display facility. The image is converted into an electrical signal which is then compared with a reference signal corresponding to the shelf, or to a full sales display peg. The result of this comparison is transmitted to a calculator which determines the replenishment quantity for each article. This procedure and system require a fixed installation which in particular calls for the mounting, at a defined distance, of an optical measuring device for each peg, and for the utilization of packages possessing well defined dimensions which have been properly specified.
There also exists, in the technological background (U.S. Pat. No. 3,348,030), an apparatus which enables inventory situations to be displayed and recorded in cases involving products which are hung on rods, such as garments which are presented on coathangers, this apparatus functioning by means of a photoelectric system. A sensor, comprising an illuminating lamp and a photoelectric cell, moves on a support rail which is located just above the rod on which the coathangers are hooked, in sections which are clearly defined for each article. This sensor is driven by a system of cables and an electric motor, and retransmits, to a calculator, a signal which is proportional to the number of articles present in each section. The corresponding quantity is at once retransmitted to a display device and a printer. Movement across the boundary of each section is identified by means of a microswitch which is installed underneath the sensor, and by control fingers which are fixed to the rod, separating the sections. This procedure and system would be difficult to adapt to the replenishment of products which are pre
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Jablon Clark A.
Smith Jerry
Societe Vynex SA
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